


From the Ground Up

by CaptainMinette



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Autistic Character, Awkward Family, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Meet-Cute, Metaphors for Mutation, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, bad childhood, deep thoughts, rough backgrounds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 07:24:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7748524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainMinette/pseuds/CaptainMinette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlotte Francine Xavier is the brilliant eldest daughter of a wealthy British expatriate family. She also happens to be on the high end of the autism spectrum.</p>
<p>Erik Lehnsherr is raised on the wrong side of the tracks and goes from foster home to foster home after witnessing his parents' deaths at the age of twelve.</p>
<p>When they meet in their early 20s, it's the start of something beautiful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From the Ground Up

**Author's Note:**

> Story title from the song by Dan & Shay.

Charlotte Francine Xavier is born in autumn of 1994, the brilliant eldest daughter of a wealthy British expatriate family. She also happens to be on the higher end of the autism spectrum: yes, she is brilliant, but she's also very different and has some difficulty communicating effectively. Her adopted brother Raven, though younger by nearly three years, feels the need to defend her from the other students throughout their school years. By 21, she's well on her way to a degree in genetics.

Erik Lehnsherr is raised on the wrong side of the tracks, and never has a great support net, since his mother is murdered a few months after his twelfth birthday and his father commits suicide within the year. Erik is shuffled from foster home to foster home for the next five years, managing to graduate high school shortly before aging out. Unable to find interest in ordinary higher education, he applies and works hard to make his way through a trade school for welding. At 22, he gets his first real job, working on the building site of a new apartment building in the city.

Their paths cross in the most unexpectedly ordinary way. Her nose in a book, Charlotte nearly runs into Erik as he's leaving her favorite cafe near the end of his lunch break, and after she apologizes for her clumsiness, they start talking almost like old friends, unusual for her and very unusual for him: his often sullen expression tends to ward off conversation. He glances at the time and realizes he only has a few minutes to get back to the site, so he asks if they can exchange numbers. She gives him a little smile and writes hers down, with a little:

_Call me. – <3 Charlotte_

Call her he does, and on their next shared day off, they meet up for a longer talk over coffee. She's forthcoming about her autism and how it's unusual for her to find someone she just senses she can talk to without crippling fear of rejection. He, in turn, is forthcoming about his upbringing, and she seems very understanding and deeply sympathetic for his rough life.

“I've always said it would be a lovely thing for someone to make a school where young people of various backgrounds who have been ostracized for their differences can feel safe and learn in a comfortable environment,” she says. He agrees, but also says the world should stop judging people based on a diagnosis, or their sexuality, or where they grew up, or on any other characteristic a person can't change about themselves.

“We can't necessarily make the world understand, but we can provide young people with a confidence to take on the challenges of a world that will throw these things at them,” she counters.

In spite of his own trepidation on the matter, he thinks this could be the start of something amazing.

She stops by his work site one day, apparently by accident, and picks up a brochure from a signpost about the upcoming apartments. He sees her stop and read the brochure, but she doesn't even notice he's there. His co-worker on the scaffolding several yards from him teases and heckles him about his staring until he flushes bright red and returns his full attention to the piece he's working on. 

Meanwhile, several yards _below_ , Charlotte has just found enough information to inquire about a potential first apartment for her and her brother.

**Author's Note:**

> The things I write about Charlotte are MOSTLY based on my own personal experiences and feelings as an adult on the spectrum, in combination with Charles' attitudes on these things in the movie(s).


End file.
